My hideout place in this funny world...

Maybe-not-really-20-something-anymore from Norway who likes to scrapbook and take photos documentarystyle and dreams of photojournalism when not working as a photojournalist and that's pretty much what this blog is about. And I like it this way.

I figured I'd share a recent layout I created. Oh, how I envy my sisters outdoor-all-year-round-jacuzzi! The kids had great fun in the jacuzzi - in minus fifteen degrees celsius! That's 5 degrees fahrenheit to you US peeps!

On the tags here I used the clear stamp ones as well. They're tucked into the open Kraft-envelope. Then you have kraft snowflakes, and black transparent ones, and the coaster one, so you can create real big chipboard-snowflakes or a snowflakemini...in short..Maya Road have got lots of great wintery accessories! Speaking of the tags: I tried different approaches to these two seen here: First I stamped the snowflakes w/watermark-stamp, added white fine detail embossing powder to them and embossed the snowflakes onto the tags. Then I sprayed a mix of Popsicle Blue, Earl Gray and Silver Plated Metallic Mist spray onto the top one. The latter made the tag pretty metallic-looking, and the gray spray added shadows to it. For the bottom tag I sprayed Popsicle Blue onto a sponge, added it evenlyish to the tag then smeared white distress stain onto the whole tag, getting a mily white, lovely sheen to the whole tag. I think I really like the latter result the better!

And I adore the new Kraft owls, as well as the larger kraft tickets! I also find the 2012 Kraft Calendar quite handy! It's both informative and pretty-as-an-accessoire at the same time :) Here it's placed upon a whitepainted snowflake-chipboard. Notice the star-pins? I figured purple gemstones in the middle of them would make the whole layout a bit more exciting, breaking with the brown-white-blue colored theme :)

I dabbed some white distress stain on the vintage wooden snowflakes - the whitewashed look added to the vintage feel methinks. The chipboard ones got a coat of white gesso, before adding sugar coating glitter on them. The glitter was then sealed in by a layer of diamond glaze on the top.

So, I created like four minis for the Maya Road CHA-booth...mm..this one tells the story of first day at school for the youngest one.

I decided to stick w/mainly one manufacturer for the papers, and went for Crate Paper for this one. A mix of various collections – hence the gesso to whitewash the papers some & give them some kind of coherence.

I also decided to mix some canvas, chipboard & transparencies for the inner pages..

Once I get the mini back I’m gonna gather the rest of the images from that day inside this envelope. I mainly focused on the journaling + the photos showing her only on the pages which were sent to CHA.

In all honesty, I’m not big on romance and sugary stuff like that (uhm, duh). But I do like making small treats and stuff.

And making these is like, too easy. Hambly Screenprints transparencies, staples, glue arts adhesives and some leftovers to adorn it (LOOK! HEIDI SWAPP CHIPBOARD HEARTS! From when she was with Advantus. LOVE these hearts. Hurts my ..eh..heart? to use them, but they’ve been like, unused all these years….these treats are easy to make, but if you need one, here’s the tutorial.

And then a giftbag w/random scraps from the scrapping desk. And yet the contents on the table doesn’t dwindle – quite on the contrary!! Gaah. Nevertheless. I see lots of cute shabby romantic stuff around the blogosphere, which’s really inspiring, but it seems I can never really pin the style myself. I think it must be my lacking romantic gene or something like that. Still, I’m allowed to do an attempt, no?

The little one is quite curious about the future – especially the one concerning hers and her brother. She once asked: “Do I really have to move out when I grow up?”. Adorable. Oh, and everything’s supposed to happen in order mind you; first her bigbrother, then her.

The Almanac-collection from Prima is truly one of my faves from this round of CHA. Along with yuko. And Songbird. And Sun Kiss. And Doodle-Deux, even though I can’t seem to be satisfied with anything I create with this collection which I instantly adored. Hrmf. Yeah. And Fairy Belle and Nature Garden too are on the “like very much”-side as well. Hrm. Got sidetracked, sorry. Love the Almanac collection, and love that it’s the feminine counterpart to Printery (which’s from CHA-S from last year) and thus is great to mix with.

I really like the pink-peach-salmonish hues combined with the harsh blackness in this collection. And spot the pins? Or the bauble? Loves’em.

Even added some stamping directly on the patterned paper! go brave me ;p

I love challenges. I truly do. But sometimes the challenges are ridiculous. Like the Maya Road one where we were only allowed to use seven – 7 – various MR products. Yes. Seven only. Initially you may think: Oh, seven products. To create one tag? Easy peasy, that’s almost a bit too many products. I know I did when the challenge was presented to us. I mean, you’re supposed to do just a little tag, no? But do not be fooled. It’s such a limitation and I had to be tough and drop a LOT of stuff. No fair! SIGH!

This is what I did:

I gathered a number of MR-products I thought would fit this challenge. We could use a few freebies, like ONE sheet of patterned paper (only one though!), staples, punches – basic tools mostly and hardly any extra product.

After much back and forth & lots of pain and stuff I ended up with these items:

Additionally I used a sheet of paper from Crate Paper, Mod Podge, white and turquoise embossing powder, tulle, staples and white gesso. I *so* wanted to use at least two or three more products, but sigh. A challenge is a challenge I guess!

I so love this technique after seeing Ronda Palazzari demonstrate it for uh, CK or something like that a while ago. Currently I’m using archival ink – jet black – it’s moist enough for this purpose. StazOn, which’s my to-go-permanent-stamp-pad, doesn’t work well for this purpose…at least not the pads I have, maybe it’s too old (like, dried too much??) Dunno. Nevertheless. I’m impressed w/how precise and fine prints you can get even on a surface like canvas. Then again. I’m easily impressed =) Right.

The kids found this Tim Holtz hammer the other day. “Mom, that’s a weird-looking hammer”. Figured I should use it,haven’t used it too much since I bought it. Typical. Not sure why I bought it in the first place either, but hey. Yields fun textures when you remember you have such a tool =).

Right. Dilute the mist w/ a little bit of water and paint the color on stuff. Vary the intensity of the color w/mist & water.

Staple the tulle to the embossed tag, attach stuff, curse that you can’t use more than 7 MR products ‘cause a pin or a ribbon would be awesome to add to the butterfly…

Then figure out an alternative way to have something in the middle of the butterfly..like cutting a triangle of paper,

…add mod podge and roll it into a paper bead and let dry…

Before attaching it to the tag. Once again; a pin would be perfect to have inside the paper bead, sticking out from it, but ahwell. Consider the challenge met!

Right! you should check out how the other designers solved this challenge…the Maya Road Challenge PDF can be found here….they’re also giving away a prize pack, just scroll all the way down the PDF to learn how to enter…

This month my challenge over at the 3ndypapir-blog is about the winter; create something that is about/looks/feels winterish. I altered a box which I’m not quite sure what to use for atm…but it sure looks pretty!
I even covered the insides w/patterned paper…maybe I’ll find some kind of gift that’ll fit inside, or I’ll buy a bag of wrapped chocolate so I can fill the tray..whatever – now I have the perfect box for whatever winterish situation.
I used papers from 3ndypapir and embellishments from (mostly) Maya Road bare the rub-ons (old Jenni Bowlin-ones – as smooth as butter still!) & white, fluffy flower from Pink Paislee.
To make the box more wintery I added crackle paint to the chipboards. Look. Pretty, eh?
I have one more that I need to decorate :)
The kids got one each of these googles, and I thought the box looked fairly sturdy and nice.
Covering it with pretty paper’s pretty quick and easy too, just make sure you cover all the surfaces, measure it right & roll on the adhesive (I just used my glue glider w/the perma-tac cartdrige, since I wasn’t going to add any moist to the box…like adding mist and stuff).
Right!
Feel free to join the challenge; check this post for more info.

rosemarySaid, 12:25 AM
Lovely photos and your cards from the last post were beautiful-- very elegant. I'm definitely going to get a d800, just don't know if I want to get the d800e version...

From what I’ve initially read, I think the D800 is a more safe bet for me personally. Will certainly watch the reviews close when they start popping up on the web to learn more about the specifics and how stuff actually works when in use! My big question is whether the D800 is a big enough upgrade for me who has D700 (apart from the obvious: it can do video..and well..it does seem way superior :p). And of course I’m drooling over a D4, but sigh, it IS a lot of money and probably (or well, I know it is!) more than I’ll ever need… atm…but still…you sort of always want the best, no? :p Looking through some older photos today I realized how little I actually photograph these days when not at work, I sorta was like “oh right, I used to be good at this”. UGh! And I interviewed an old-time-photographer the other day, one who’s been a photographer for like 40 years and who now is retired…he said something along the lines of “finally the work has become a hobby/passion once again”…hrm! (oook…I’m starting to feel a bit moody/nostalgic now, sorry!)

Elisabeth: Haha, takk for oppmuntringa! :D

AlienkaSaid, 5:02 PM
Beautiful cards! As to spots you should buy antistatic pad. It looks like this: http://belkaonline.ru/images/belkaonline/400_ink-05847.jpg You should stroke the paper with pad before stamping - it will prevent powder to stick. (sorry if my English not good enough)

Ooh..yes..that’s the one! Do you have one yourself? Does it actually work well? I also got an advice saying to just buy a common microfiber cloth, one that you use for cleaning up…but it didn’t seem to work that well..hm…maybe I bought the wrong kind come to think of it, hmm..

Last weekend we dropped by my sis in Oslo (actually, we just wanted to use her Jacuzzi & celebrate my dads bday). Staying with her was just conventional. I love her house. Not only does she have nice taste & manages to keep the house tidy and all, she’s also darn lucky having amazing lightning coming in the huge, nice windows creating the most amazing light making snapping photos (when facing the windows) like a dream. *sigh* I’m jealous!

This is my littlesis and her son. Those eyes! The firm grip he has on her ear! Bwahaha. Cuteness.

This is my oldest son. He loves to read – and am now on the third & last book about The Hunger Games. I’ve read the books myself, and yes indeed – it’s no big literature, but it does what it’s supposed to do – spellbind young (and older) readers, enticing them into reading more. Love such books! He does not really want to watch the upcoming movie though – and I understand him. There might be gory scenes. Like how Katniss reaches for the silver bow (or something like that?)? Bwahaha. We’ll see. I’m gonna watch it for sure! *grin*

Like I said. Gorgeous light. A quick photosession is like, mandatory when having such light!

Add silly kids..

I do wish my sis was sensible enough to have a larger area of white wall built though. I simply do not understand how she did not think about that when they built the house like, two years ago or something like that!?!? *sigh*

*loves*

That girl…

That kid…

Oh, it’s the baby! And my stepfather! He sure loves the ears. The baby, that is.

Did I mention I’m jealous? Sis got a Jacuzzi in the backyard. Nevermind minus fifteen degrees Celsius (like, 5 Fahrenheit) & snow! The latter only makes the whole event more fun when you can snow bathe before rejoining the hot water!

Mom and her four oldest grandkids. The baby was sleeping :(

(again – really wish sis would make that white wall larger….sigh)

Oh, did you see that the new D800 is out? *drool* What do you think, is a new D800 preferable to an used D3s? And oy, I’ve been missing taking photos w/my DSLR privately (as opposed to using the iPhone all the time privately and the DSLR at work)